Skepticism justified?

Friday, 30 November 2012

Hi Pattaya Mail;

Thank you for your always interesting publication. Being skeptical about City Hall and the police’s real interest in cracking down on the jet ski problem which has been given a lot of publicity, I got my answer in Friday November 16 issue of Pattaya Mail.

Headline: “Jet Ski vendor arrested for 25,000 baht extortion, returns money” and I thought Hallelujah till I read on. “Pattaya police arrested a jet ski vendor who allegedly extorted 25,000B from an Indian tourist who had allegedly scraped the side of the boat. Ponssuphan Phoommok was taken into custody after tourist Jaspre Singh, 34, complained to police he’d been forced to pay for alleged damage to a jet ski on Nov. 3.”

So far so good, then reality sets in: “Ponssuphan returned the money with police saying he confessed never expecting the tourists to go to the authorities. Singh and friend said they rented the jet ski in front of Mikes Shopping Mall and were told they had scraped the side of the boat.”

Now for the punch-line: “After they had had the money returned the two tourists declined to press charges” (perhaps after being told they would have to testify in court sometime in the future, probably in about 3 to 5 years time) “and the vendor was released.” What, without even slap on his thieving wrist?

So everything is back to normal then; forget about any crackdown.

When are these people going to learn that killing the goose that lays the golden eggs for one enjoyable meal is a very shortsighted policy? Silly question - never!